The rumors that they have repeatedly shot down for the past 2 years? The rumors concerning the guy the FO calls "untouchable" who *hasn't* been traded, for anyone?
While it is highly unlikely he will move Tucker, Jeff Luhnow has said that he always looks to improve the team if there are certain people available. We might never know if Luhnow ever entertained the idea if it involved a player that the FO liked. For now, I'm glad they've found a way to get Verlander and Cole without giving up Whitley or Tucker.
It's looking increasingly like the Astros *do not* need to acquire a veteran catcher or extra outfielder this year. Stassi, Fisher, and Tucker seem to have that covered. Nor is there a pressing need to sign a star DH; White and Davis have that covered in case Gattis can't handle it. The biggest question I can see remaining is whether the team needs to make an addition to the bullpen. Guduan can't seem to find his control. Sipp looked all right yesterday and hopefully Hinch will find Sipp another 7 or 8 innings to pitch to make a more well-informed assessment of where his game is for 2018. Same with Boshers. We've yet to see Gose, which surprises me a little. The way Armenteros, Ferrell, and Valdez have pitched, it looks like it may not be necessary to look outside the organization if a new reliever is needed on the big league team. Overall, the lack of action by Luhnow in the FA market seems to have been the right path so far.
With the apparent surplus of bats, I’m wondering which player might make the most sense to shop in a trade. Guys like Reed, White, and Davis don’t have much value based on how bat-first free agents have fared. It doesn’t make any sense to trade core guys like Altuve, Correa, Bregman, or Springer. McCann, Gattis, Gurriel, and Reddick don’t have much if any surplus value due to their contracts. Tucker and probably Fisher are being counted on as core pieces once the current core reaches free agency. Stassi is still pretty much an unknown and it’s doubtful another team would offer anything significant for him. That leaves Marwin and Marisnick. Marwin is coming off a stellar season and is a free agent after this season. It’s hard to know how other teams value him since he’s a utility player whose offensive track record prior to last season wasn’t nearly as good. But if a team needing a versatile player thought he would replicate his 2017 production they might be willing to offer something good. To me the fact that he is obviously a big part of the clubhouse and very close to Altuve would make it difficult if not impossible to trade him. Marisnick is also coming off a great season although he did miss a significant number of games due to injury. He has a stellar defensive reputation and has another year of control after this season. But based on how players like Carlos Gomez, Jon Jay, and others have fared in free agency it’s hard to see a team offering up a top 100 type prospect for Jake, which is what it would take to make it worthwhile for the Astros. So all this is to say, it doesn’t look like there’s an obvious player whose value is such that he would be worth trading. Luhnow has done a masterful job of roster construction. One thing I note is that Stassi passed through waivers last year, so there was at least one point where Houston thought so little of him that they were willing to let him go for nothing. But based on his spring performance so far and based on the rhetoric of Hinch and Luhnow, he’s not going anywhere. At this point I don’t think I’d rather have CarGo, Duda, or any other remaining free agent over Fisher or Gattis. But I still think Lucroy is worth tracking and for the right price might be worth adding at the expense of Stassi or Gattis.
If Fisher hits, there is likely going to be a lot of pressure to go to two catchers by the deadline. Hard to get catchers plate appearances at the DH when there are better hitters on the bench.
Astros' Gurriel sent to Houston to get left hand examined https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/1494483-astros-gurriel-sent-to-houston-to-get-left-hand-examined
Once again, Keith Hernandez just makes stuff up. Talking about Devenski’s walks on 3-2 counts in the World Series and how you can’t do that in pressure situations. He walked one guy in the WS and it was not on a 3-2 pitch.
You can save it and he may prove me wrong, but a lot of weird things would have to happen for him to make the team out of spring training, much less be the closer.
